10th Circuit Spurns Request For Full Court Hearing

KSAL StaffDecember 3, 2014

Kansas has lost another legal skirmish in its efforts to salvage the state’s battered ban on gay marriage.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected on Tuesday the state’s request to convene the full court to hear its appeal of U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree’s order that the state allow same-sex marriages.

The latest procedural development from the federal appeals court in the case has little practical effect because the U.S. Supreme Court has already refused an emergency request to block Crabtree’s order. It means that, as usual, a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit will hear arguments over the preliminary injunction issued in the Kansas case.

Also, the U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to resolve soon the question of whether state marriage laws excluding same-sex couples are unconstitutional.